Dipsacus fullonum Wild Teasel

A robust biennial, up to 6 feet tall, with prickly stems and leaves and conical flower heads made up of numerous, small, pale purple flowers surrounded by long, curved spines. It grows in rough grassland, open mosaic sites and waste places and also in hedgebanks and at the edges of woodland. It has undergone a significant expansion in its distribution in Britain and Ireland n the last 50 years. It is common in West Glamorgan where it is largely a lowland species and most frequently encountered along disturbed roadsides in coastal areas. The flowers are visited by various pollinators such bees, flies and butterflies and the seed heads are foraged by goldfinches in autumn. Teasel has had a number of practical uses in the past when the dead stems were used for combing wool. It contains a number of bioactive phytochemicals including alkaloids, triterpenoids, iridoids, and phenolis and it has been used in the treatment of numerous ailments. However there is little evidence to support the in vivo effectiveness of some of its claimed, medical effects.

Native